The Worst Friend - Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Zhou Yan didn’t contact me for three days.
I didn’t contact him either.
We were like two childish beasts, each guarding our own wounded territory. Whoever lowered their head first lost.
On the evening of the fourth day, Liang Xu posted in the group chat that he was holding a celebration before the annual contract was officially sealed.
The venue was the same club as last time.
I hadn’t planned on going.
But Liang Xu tagged me in the group. He tagged Zhou Yan too.
“Shen Que, you should come too. Some things shouldn’t be left for everyone to keep guessing about.”
A few seconds later, he sent another message.
“Zhou Yan, the client is signing tomorrow. Don’t let personal matters affect half a year’s worth of everyone’s hard work.”
I looked at that line and knew he had finally lost patience.
This wasn’t just a gathering between friends.
He had called over the two other partners from the studio too.
He was going to drag Zhou Yan and me in front of everyone.
Force us to admit we were only fooling around.
Or force us to admit we had really betrayed him.
I changed into a black shirt.
Buttoned all the way up to the collar.
When I arrived, there were even more people than last time.
Liang Xu sat in the center.
Zhou Yan hadn’t arrived yet.
The moment I walked in, every gaze in the room landed on me.
Someone gave an awkward laugh.
“Shen Que’s here.”
I sat down.
“Am I not welcome?”
No one answered.
Liang Xu looked at me.
“How have you been lately?”
I smiled.
“Thanks to you, still alive.”
The atmosphere froze instantly.
Xu Du didn’t come today.
Before I arrived, he had sent one message in the group.
“Liang-ge, I’m not some prop you can use to piss Shen Que off.”
Then he left the group.
I stared at that message for a long time.
So I wasn’t the only person he had used to prove he hadn’t lost.
Halfway through the drinking, Zhou Yan arrived.
When he pushed the door open, the private room fell silent for a moment.
I didn’t look at him.
But I could feel his gaze land on me.
Briefly.
And heavily.
He sat down not far from me.
Two friends sat between us.
Liang Xu gave a small smile.
“Now that everyone’s here, perfect.”
Someone tried to smooth things over.
“Liang Xu, weren’t we just here to drink today?”
Liang Xu ignored him.
He looked at Zhou Yan.
“Don’t you owe me an explanation?”
Zhou Yan lifted his eyes.
“For what?”
“You and Shen Que.”
Zhou Yan didn’t speak.
Liang Xu turned to me again.
“Shen Que, are you done making a scene?”
I gripped my glass.
My knuckles went white.
He was too good at this.
With one sentence-“are you done making a scene”-he could turn every emotion I had into unreasonable hysteria.
He was always like this.
First, he put himself in the victim’s seat.
Then he turned me into the immature one.
I was just about to speak when Zhou Yan spoke first.
“He’s not making a scene.”
Liang Xu’s expression darkened slightly.
“Then what is it?”
Zhou Yan said, “It’s me pursuing him.”
The private room went completely silent.
I whipped my head toward him.
Zhou Yan looked at me too.
He didn’t dodge.
And he left himself no room to retreat.
Liang Xu let out a laugh.
“You’re pursuing him?”
“Yeah.”
“Zhou Yan, do you have no shame?”
“No.”
Those two words fell, and everyone at the table froze.
Zhou Yan’s voice was still even.
“I had some before. It didn’t do any good.”
Liang Xu stood up.
“You knew full well he was my ex.”
“I knew.”
“You knew full well he got close to you just to piss me off.”
“I knew.”
“And you still want him?”
Zhou Yan looked at him.
“I do.”
It felt like my heart had been seized in a brutal grip.
Liang Xu finally lost control.
“You’ve been after him for a long damn time, haven’t you?”
No one dared to speak.
Zhou Yan was silent for a few seconds.
“Yes.”
Liang Xu rushed over and grabbed him by the collar.
People got up to stop him.
I stood too.
Liang Xu’s eyes were red.
“And you called yourself my brother?”
Zhou Yan said, “I stepped aside once.”
Liang Xu’s fist slammed into him.
Zhou Yan didn’t dodge.
After the dull impact, the corner of his mouth split open.
My mind went blank.
By the time I came back to myself, I had already shoved through the crowd and rushed over.
“Liang Xu!”
Liang Xu looked at me.
In his eyes were shock, fury, and a trace of grievance that I had once known so well.
“You’re protecting him?”
I stood in front of Zhou Yan.
“You have no right to hit him.”
Liang Xu looked as if he’d heard something absurd.
“I have no right? Shen Que, don’t forget, he’s the one who betrayed me first.”
I looked at him.
All at once, I felt very calm.
“What about you?”
Liang Xu froze.
“When you brought the new guy in front of me and had everyone tell me to be dignified, did you think about me?”
“When you called me cheap, did you think about me?”
“When you knew perfectly well that Zhou Yan liked me, but still deliberately pursued me first, did you think about him?”
The private room was deathly silent.
Liang Xu’s expression changed.
“He told you?”
I laughed.
“Not every truth is yours alone to tell.”
Liang Xu stared at me.
“So you’re choosing him now?”
Everyone looked at me.
This was exactly the scene Liang Xu wanted.
Public.
A trial.
Picking sides.
He wanted me to back down.
Wanted me to say I was only trying to anger him.
Wanted me to admit that Zhou Yan and I were both acting on impulse.
I turned to look at Zhou Yan.
The corner of his mouth was still bleeding.
But he didn’t reach out to pull me back.
He was giving me a way out.
Even now, he was still giving me a way out.
Suddenly, I remembered so many things.
The night of my birthday, when he drank in my place.
That rainy night, when he said, “I hope you’ll call me.”
That morning by the bed, when I said not to take it seriously. He had clearly been hurt, but he still said okay.
I really am an asshole.
That was what I thought.
But I couldn’t keep being an asshole forever.
I turned back around.
“Yes.”
I heard myself say it.
“I choose him.”
